Mathematics and Science as Art in Contemporary Theatre
In Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, the playwright somewhat miraculously manages to use the tension between Euclidean geometry and modern fractal geometry to explore the classical/romantic dichotomy in literature, science, art, and human personality. This is just one example of how acclaimed playwrights such as Stoppard, Rinne Groff, Michael Frayn, Simon McBurney, and others have effectively incorporated mathematical and scientific themes for artistic purposes. Our goal is to explore this relatively recent phenomenon in theater with an eye toward understanding the complementary ways in which science and art aim to seek out their respective truths. The course is intended to be experiential in both theatrical and scientific terms; our explorations will include the staging of scenes and discussions of theatre as performance; we will also undertake labs in the various mathematical sciences related to the material within the plays.